Political Hindu: Delhi BJP chief slams Kejriwal for ’embracing’ Hindutva ahead of polls

New Delhi, July 12 (IANS) Describing AAP National Convenor Arvind Kejriwal as a “Political Hindu”, Delhi BJP President Harsh Malhotra on Sunday dismissed the former Chief Minister’s programme to organise Shri Sundarkand Paath in Rohini as a gimmick with an eye on the upcoming Punjab Assembly elections.

“Whenever Kejriwal finds himself politically cornered, he attempts to improve his political standing by organising Shri Sundarkand recitations in Delhi,” said Malhotra, pointing to the unfulfilled promise of the AAP National Convenor to organise such religious gatherings at over 2,000 locations.

Malhotra said Kejriwal’s present statements on Ram Mandir contradict his earlier stand that he would never visit Ayodhya because of the site’s “disputed past”.

As for the Shri Sunderkand Paath gimmick, it is a clear effort to influence Hindu voters of Punjab and other states where elections are due in the near future, as he can already see the writing on the wall after the outcomes in West Bengal and Assam, said Malhotra.

The Delhi BJP President said that the people of Delhi and the entire country still vividly remember Kejriwal’s speech in which, quoting his maternal grandmother, he had said that he did not wish to visit a temple that, according to him, had been built after demolishing a mosque.

Malhotra said that the people of Delhi also remember that after the construction of the Shri Ram Temple in Ayodhya in 2024, Kejriwal suddenly embraced Hindutva for political gains.

The then AAP government announced weekly Shri Sundarkand Paath programmes in all 70 Assembly constituencies of Delhi. However, apart from conducting recitations in around 50 Assembly constituencies on January 16, 2024, only a handful of programmes were held thereafter before the initiative was quietly abandoned, he said.

In March 2024, the AAP government announced that Shri Sundarkand Paath would be organised simultaneously at 2,600 locations. However, according to Malhotra, the recitation did not take place at 26 locations.

The Delhi BJP President asked Kejriwal how long he would continue to insult the Hindu faith by displaying what he described as hypocritical devotion in the name of Lord Hanuman and Shri Sundarkand Paath.

Malhotra said that Kejriwal, who is staging a drama through Shri Sundarkand Paath in Rohini on Sunday, should explain why he discontinued the series of Shri Sundarkand Paath programmes that he had announced in 2024.

–IANS

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